Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Ughh, I'm sick. My head may explode. My ears may burst. My throat may start bleeding. My nose should just be removed altogether. I have slept since getting off work on Monday morning (now tuesday night). Waking only to eat, drink, and gargle warm salt water.....Of all the weeks to be sick this is not the one. Ragnar starts on Friday......this is not going to be good!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

I am starting a garden, today was mostly ground work. Apparently desert soil is not the best to grow things in so there is some prep work to be done, but that's ok I had lots of help today!

Next, I rode my bike to my workout (3miles), worked out with my trainer as I do 2x week, then rode home. I finished up some ground work then headed to team captain meeting for the Ragnar Relay which is 7 days away! I was scared about this race coming up so soon because I have not trained like I wanted to because I keep having flair-ups of this left IT band stemming from my rollerskating crash before Christmas........I am past being scared and pretty much just laugh at the mere thought of it now. I foresee a lot of pain, crying, crawling, laughing, etc.....and of course pics to document my monumental torture!

I had an egg white and veggie omelet this morning with a broccoli pancake; it didn't hold me over at all like my oatmeal does. I recently bought some oat bran so I am thinking of trying it tomorrow am. Speaking of tomorrow.....more gardening, light run, and oh I forgot to update you on my interview earlier this week.......that is because when I showed up to the interview it had been cancelled only no one felt the need to notify me of the cancellation and need to reschedule; I am less than impressed with the company and have not called back to reschedule the interview. I did however get a call about another short term assignment that looks promising and hope to hear some more on it tomorrow! Here are some pics of my little garden helpers! "Barnacle Bo", "Squidney", and "Kirb the Burb" our own little snowbird house guest! And finally, let me just say I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR IN AZ!!!!! so, so, so beautiful today!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Today we decided to get away from the circus in my back yard and head south to the wild, wild west. One thing I love is anything having to do with the wild west, wagon trains, frontier settlers, bad ass outlaws, roughneck ranchers........ahhh I truly was born in the wrong century! Anyways, back to today.

Destination: Tombstone, AZ

Review: Cheesy tourist trap as I thought it would be

Disappointment of the day: making our way over to Kartchner Caverns only to be told it was already sold out for the day (who knew you had to make reservations on a weekday???, damn snowbirds!) which also took us back a different way therefore I missed stopping at the pecan grove farmer's market stand on the road we took there : (

Lesson of the day: ugh, this one I am still not happy about........so I ate a nice bowl of oatmeal for breakfast (6am, remember I woke up at 3), a power bar at about 11 on the way, and then the tourist trap sucked me in.......while I feel good about avoiding the 10 fudge shops and salt water taffy in the 2 block downtown area

(side note why do all tourist traps have homemade fudge shops and salt water taffy?

the fudge shops ok, but salt water taffy? it's the desert!!!!! no ocean! no saltwater!)

.....we ate lunch at a small cafe which had the look of a promising home cooked meal in a small town......the menu was a pitfall for bad eating!......and I saw the salad that came out to the table next to me (yellow iceberg) but wait what is this I see a homemade garden burger.......ok that may be ok, then set in my being tired and traveling and I ordered the fries with it. The garden burger tasted like some shredded carrots and zucchini mixed up and fried together (a little sweet and without a base, ugh). I only ate half my fries which at the time tasted pretty good, but immediately I knew it was not making me feel good! To get you caught up....January 1st I started trying to eat healthy, real food. Minus a small box of chocolates and french toast on Valentine's Day and half of a chicken fried steak, cinnamon roll, and slice of carrot cake on my Birthday last month which btw I also ran a 1/2 marathon the same day I have pretty much stuck to my guns as far as eating no junk food, no fried food, nothing but lean protein, vegetables, nuts, fruit, and whole grains! The whole way home I felt that taste of grease in my mouth and felt blah......I was craving fresh, fresh, fresh. By the time I got home I fixed up a smorgasbord of salad, fixins, leftover smoked chicken, hummus, and fresh peppers! They say that once you do something for 30 days it starts to become a habit or way of life. I am happy to say that despite my poor choice today it has taught me that french fries don't really agree with me anymore!

Monday, February 16, 2009

First let me preface by saying that I am running on very little sleep as I worked the past two nights as I always do on Sat/Sun. Saturday ended up being a 24 hour no sleeper as sometimes happens on your first nightshift back. This morning after work I came and ended up having to take my dog to the vet this morning to have a mole turned cyst like thing removed. Barnacle Bo is 77 yrs old and I swear has all the traits of old man.....snores, farts a lot!, weird moley skin things always popping up..........

On to the Circus.....yes the circus is coming to my own backyard! This morning my quiet little street was alined with cars and people buzzing around, what's this I say, a kick ass garage sale on President's Day???? ummm.....no, it is the President himself causing this little hoopla in my hood. Free tickets this morning being handed out to the first 300-400 people in line for the chance to hear how the stimulus will prevent me from losing another neighbor.

overnight camping fee front yard only- $100/nightday camping fee - $50/day (no open fires or glass bottles allowed in the yard)parking an additional $100 for driveway, for $500 I will valet your car and park it in my garage!Now, there is stimulus for me! Anyways, I have an interview later today for a second job. Not sure what the job is, will let you know how it goes though. Unfortunately, I have no kids.....I did not lose my house to foreclosure nor am I at risk for that, I did not lose my job, I did not lose my health care coverage, I was not a first time home buyer in the past year, I am not some irresponsible large corporation with trips to vegas, big private jets, blinged out suv's, or remodeled offices......and I only got $13 from the last stimulus bill because of my annual income......I will not be getting any of the trillion dollar economic stimulus......in fact if you remember my recent taxxacre I will only be contributing to those listed above (if I get that second job, lol).

Friday, February 13, 2009

Never have I planned something, gotten to the day realized it was Friday the 13th and wish I had done it on another day.........until today

then again it wouldn't matter what day I did my taxes on this year the outcome would inevitably result in me vomiting a little in my mouth while holding back the tears so as not to have the tax lady calling the mental health crisis line for me!!!! All I can say is wow, I got f%#*!@ the day before Valentine's only this was not a CHEAP DATE.......can you say extension, payment plan, anything.....

It all comes down to this.....somehow (and one can only begin to wonder how) my withholding got changed to 3 vs 0 so for half the year my company was only holding out nearly nothing! Because I work different number of hours each pay period (picking up extra shifts and whatnot) I didn't realize that my check was that different. And I am taking responsibility for my part of not checking my paystub diligently (I already have to make sure they get the number of hours correct and pay out overtime correctly, both of which I have had issues with also this year). Ugghhhh.......ok so that would be the stressed part which brought me to my pity party which led me to my feeling blessed.

1. I am healthy2. My family and loved ones are healthy3. I have a job4. I have a home

Ok so on to the rest of my day (although, I will say that the taxxacre happened at lunch and I was in shock on the couch for a good few hours after that).

I cancelled my gym membership......????? What's that you say, let's not get drastic! It's ok, it was my gym that I never go to (not that I don't go to the gym). My trainer works at a small gym and since I get training sessions there I work out there and they don't have a monthly fee, but for some reason I have still been paying my old gym monthly. I've been avoiding cancelling it because you either have to go in and sign a form (while getting a sales pitchy lecture "Baby come back" mop song from some cocky gym managerial type) or send a registered letter (which involves going to post office and then standing in said post office line). I finally opted to suck it up and go with the mop song. I think the guy actually got mad when he asked why I was leaving and I said because I followed my trainer (who use to work there) to smaller gym. Think of all the money I will be saving......and then sending to UNCLESAM!

I avoided feeding my stress with all the stuff I wanted (chocolate, pizza, cinnamon rolls, m/m's)and went for a run this afternoon. I got a good 4 miles in (37 minutes) with not too much nagging from my IT band. I forgot how much a good run can clear your mind and relieve stress. Because I am usually living the i.dle/i.de.al life I rarely feel this stressed or shocked about anything.

Oh, one last thing......I am putting together a playlist for my upcoming Ragnar race and would like some input.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

OK....so as you can see I am clearly quite new to this blog thing and although in previous lives I have mastered how to pimp out a myspace page I have not found my happy place in this blogging world. So for now this is a work in progress. I will be using my i.dle time to make this blog i.de.al

Stinky clothes? Clean them up! Today is laundry day at my house anyways and finding this was a cool bonus so hopefully I win! Beyond my poor, poor favorite blue running shirt needing to retire or get autoclaved I also currently have one of my favorite white tanktops sitting on my dryer with armpit stains (I sweat.....I'm ok with that, in fact I love that)! If you too have laundry problems check out this cool contest, but again.....hopefully I win!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

This is probably one of my favorite day hikes (from Phx area)! Today we got up early and headed out to this once site of a Civil War Battle.....what's that you say? Yes, an actual Civil War Battle was fought right here in the wild, wild west! Besides that this is also one of the best places to view wildflowers in AZ (it was pretty green today so check back next month and it should be covered)! hmmm, also of note there is an ostrich farm just down the rode which I decided that despite the fact I eat eggs the thought of ostrich or for that matter dinosaur eggs being cracked over a skillet would just be disgusting. Just prior to entering the park is the AZ Nut House (no they actually sell nuts and dried fruit and stuff).........Ok, now for the hike! This hike involves a few "technical climbs" towards the top. The hardest part of the climb is trusting the "cables and guardrails" set in place to guide you up. Today was really clear so the 360 view from the top was great and you could even see some snow covered mountain tops off in the distance (to the east). Also of note as we were leaving the valley today the Superstitions were dusted with snow which makes the already mysterious face of the Superstitions that much AWESOMER!

Having a love/hate relationship with running - I have somehow convinced 11 other people I know to endure a 201 mile race called the Ragnar Relay which is coming up very soon just at the end of this month....... I'm a little, ok actually more than a little scared!

Hiking - I am trying to get at least 1 hike in per week until after Ragnar then hope to increase my hiking outings since wildflower season is merely weeks away.

Pilates - I will be starting a instructor training program at the end of April, I am so excited about this!

Gnomes - odd fascination, not sure why!

and soon to be Gardening - I am working on getting my plot started although the rain put me back a few days.

Nursing (a necessary part of my life to pay bills) - I am a Registered Nurse and I work in the emergency department. I was working on finishing up my Bachelor's in Nursing, however am currently on hiatus due to my company rewriting their tuition reimbursement policy and my unwillingness to pay for this endeavor out of my own pocket.

Pull-ups (this is a hate/hate relationship) - I workout with my trainer 2x per week and although I have my own NASM certification in personal training I prefer to have Jake (trainer) torture me and push me further than I would push myself when it comes to the gym.

hmmmm, I know there is more but this will be a good compass for my blogging tales.

So I think that it will be hodgepodge of the above with a little of whatever else.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

I must comment on my 3 mile radius. If you know me then you may have heard me or one of my friends mention the infamous 3 mile radius. Simply it is what it is.....a 3mile radius around my house that I prefer to spend my days in. Within this 3 mile radius is

work

favorite book store

great bar and grill

my torture guru aka trainer

lap pool for swimming

canal access

gas station

massage therapy

yummy lettuce wraps

sunflower market (this may actually be 4 miles, but so worth the extra mile)

I am in no way a hobbit. I just prefer not to spend 1/3 of my life commuting and driving aimlessly around town. Don't get me wrong......I will leave my 3 mile radius and often do. Pilates, brewery, hiking, day trips (including to the -copa to visit my favorite niece and nephew), and airport all entice me enough to meander beyond the invisible line. So what can only make my 3 mile radius better? For me to utilize my two wheels more often to navigate within my 3 miles. I am trying......a few times I have rode to my workouts and tonight rode to dinner at the grill and to browse the bookstore!

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i.dle vs i.de.al

i.dle: to pass time doing nothing; habitually doing nothing or avoiding work; of no real worth, importance, or significance; not spent or filled with activity; to move, loiter, or saunter aimlessly

i.de.al: a conception of something in its perfection; a standard of perfection or excellence; something that exists only in the imagination; pertaining to a possible state of affairs considered as highly desirable